


Life of a Student Worker

by Enigmaticrose4



Series: The Facade Universe and it's Alternate Dimension [5]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-16
Updated: 2012-08-30
Packaged: 2017-11-10 02:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigmaticrose4/pseuds/Enigmaticrose4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruhi has decided to spend the summer trimester of her junior year of college as a student worker at a grocery store in Florida. Occurs inside my Alphabet Galaxy. Which is parallel to my Facade Galaxy. It's all interconnected. :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Week 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: You may want to read Alphabet up to G before you read this, since this story occurs as a side story inside that Galaxy.

Dear Tamaki,

I'm only writing to you so you won't keep calling me. There is no way I can afford an hour long international phone call every day. So please only call me once every two weeks or so, please. Here are the details on my job here.

I am working at a grocery store called Cublix as a bagger. Basically, when the cashier rings up groceries for a customer I stand there and bag the groceries. It's a rather repetitive job, but still interesting. It's fun to watch and study the people.

Yesterday was my actual first day working, before that I was just doing training. I followed a bagger named Mike around. He's nice, in some ways he reminds me of a mix between you and Kyoya. He never stops moving, is very smart and rather devious, but seems to see life as a game. His fiancée is one of the cashiers, named Katelyn. I think of all the people I've met here so far I could get along with her best. She says what she thinks, like you say I do.

There are only two other student workers in this department with me. Uktu, who is from Turkey, and Xiang, who is from Hong Kong. Xiang doesn't speak English extremely fluently, while Uktu does. This creates some problems. I'll tell you more about that later, since I'm really tired, I had cart duty twice today. Cart duty is when I have to go outside and push carts inside for thirty minutes at a time. I've never worked so hard in my life.

Hope all is going well back in Japan. I miss you lots, but I'll see you in two and a half months. You're still planning to meet me in Orlando? I would love to explore Disney World with you.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Florida is really hot, can you ask my dad to send me more of my summer clothes?


	2. Week 2

Dear Tamaki,

I got your email. Yes, I am having lots of fun. No, I have not met someone else, I still love you dearly and no one can compete with you for my attentions.

I have an interesting story to tell you about this week. It just shows the ignorance of some people. I was bagging for a cashier named Katherine. She was being friendly and asking me all sorts of questions about what it's like to go to a school in Japan. She's studying to be a school teacher and is approaching her final year in school, like I am.

Well, we stopped talking when an older lady came through our line. Katherine said "Hello, how are you doing today?"

The woman replied by saying "Absolutely stupendous, the word is my oyster." (I have no idea what 'the world is my oyster' means, but I guess Katherine did.

Katherine giggled a little and said "That's a new and interesting answer. I haven't gotten that one before."

The woman looked up from putting her groceries on the belt and said, a little defensively, "What do you care if it's interesting?"

Katherine looked taken aback as she replied "Well…I stand here for hours and talking to people makes the time go by faster."

The woman got a nasty look on her face and said, very rudely, "Well, if you went to school you wouldn't be here."

Katherine sort of jerked back, as if she was slapped. But she remained silent and finished ringing up the woman's items. Then, as she was handing the woman her receipt, she stated, in a tone of voice a teacher uses to tell a student they got a problem wrong, "Ma'am, I do go to school, I'm a senior in college."

I wish I could have bottled the look on that woman's face. She looked like she had been attacked by Hunny. She snatched her groceries from me and stomped out of the store.

Honestly. Can you believe that woman? True, you and the other guys are rich, like she was, but none of you look down on someone for holding an honest job. If you did I don't think I could be friends with you, or love you. Honestly, even if Katherine wasn't in school, that woman would've had no right to say that to her. Everyone has to have a job, everyone has to eat, and every job has to be filled by someone. We can't all be rich business people. Right?

Writing this has gotten me all steamed up again. Injustice is just wrong! That's the real reason I want to be a lawyer, I want to fight injustice like my mother. Since I've come here I'm spending less time thinking and more time watching. I save my time for thinking at home.

Oh! Home! I forgot to tell you, I share a small house with the other student workers at Cublix. I'm rooming with the two girls that work in the deli, Rain and Sunshine. Those aren't their real names; it's just what they're called here. They're from Hong Kong like Xiang. Xiang and Uktu share a room. We all take turns in the evening cooking for everyone else. They all make such wonderful food. If I didn't have to work so hard at Cublix I would be afraid of being fat when you saw me again.

I'll email you again next week, on my next day off. Hope everything's going well at home. Let me know how Kyoya and Alianore's relationship is doing. I still can't see them as a couple.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Before you ask, no I'm not going to find someone better than you, so stop worrying and pass your internship so you can graduate.


	3. Week 3

Dear Tamaki,

I really miss you. I'm having a good time, but I'm finding myself thinking up things that I want to share with you, but I can't, because you're so far away. Here's a few of them, I hope this helps you pretend I'm near you. I will never be so far away from you for so long after this.

I've been recently introduced to what Katherine loving calls 'Summer Saturdays'. It seems that every Saturday as many people as will fit on this sand bar descend upon it. The check into their condos at about 3pm and then come see us to go shopping. We have every register open and we still can't keep up.

Every register is backed up and we're all exhausted by the time we close at 11pm. This past Saturday we had lots of fun after we closed though. I helped Larynda (another cashier) put go-backs away. Go-backs are things that people take off shelves and don't put back. Some of these they hand to the cashier and say the changed their mind. But most of it is stuff people just stuff in the wrong spot. That's not so bad when it's cans or boxes. But we found a $40 steak stuck with the coffee! That is such a waste! It was all warm and icky. Larynda told me that she found some ice cream once, it had leaked everywhere.

Well, we finished putting everything back where it belonged and then Larynda jokingly said that I was so small I could ride in the cart like a child. So we did that! I sat in the big part of the shopping cart and Larynda ran me up and down the aisles. We kept doing that until Tim (the store manager) saw us told us to stop.

After I clocked out I was going to have to wait for the car pool to pick Sunshine, Rain, and myself up. It's always really late. But we ended up not having to wait. Katharine offered to give us a ride back to our place. She said it wasn't safe for us to be sitting out there all by ourselves in the dark, especially after midnight, so we let her take us home. That was nice of her.

Tomorrow I'm off work and so is Rain and Sunshine, we're going to go to the beach and relax. If they didn't want to go I probably wouldn't, but they're so nice, I can't help myself.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Thanks for the flowers! It was so sweet for you to order them for me.


	4. Week 4

Dear Tamaki,

This is not a happy letter. It's been a tough week. A fellow bagger, Miranda, was found dead yesterday morning. She shot herself.

I can't believe it. She was so quiet and sweet. She was always in a good mood and she had laser eye surgery done right before I came here. I don't know why she did it. She's been so happy lately. Mary was telling me that she used to be very sad and depressed all the time, but she hasn't been.

I just don't UNDERSTAND. All the things I've heard…she should've been far away from this choice. I wish someone would help me understand.

All I can think is that something happened, right near the end, which made her do it. I'm crying now, I can't write anymore. I'll finish this tomorrow.

I found out what must've tipped her over the edge! She was bagging for a customer and she put the bread on top of the eggs. This is what we always do, because bread doesn't break eggs. Well, this GUY had a problem with that. He pushed Miranda out of the way and started yelling at her and taking things out of bags and rebagging them and calling her names. Then she went home and shot herself that night.

My blood is boiling. I don't get angry easily, but this. It's worse than I felt after that lady insulted Katharine. I want to hit something. Why do I want to hit something? Tamaki…please hold me…just hold me…

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Why? Why? Why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on another true story.


	5. Week 5

Dear Tamaki,

I think I hate Cublix. I don't hate the people, though one of the managers (Linda), is really aggravating. She looks down on people. It's amusing in a way. When I speak English I'm really slow and soft-spoken since I want to make sure I say everything correctly. She seems to see this as stupidity and bad language skills.

I've heard her bad-mouthing me and some of the other employees for various reasons. I don't think she's being racist; it's more like she's being elitist.

Oh, did I ever tell you about my trip to the beach? I don't think I did, I was so upset about Miranda. Which I still am, but I need to move on, though I will never forget her. I wish I could've gotten to the wake, even if it was open casket. They do that here. They preserve the body and then leave the coffin open so you can see the dead person. It's a little creepy and apparently they never look like they did in life.

The beach, sorry, I'm being as easily distracted as you are. It must be a sign of my missing you so much. The beach here is beautiful. The sand is quartz sand so It's sparkling white. It can even squeak under your feet as you walk. The gulf is a beautiful mix of turquoise and blue. There was no oil to be seen, despite the oil leak going on. The beach was crowded, but not as badly as some of the public beaches in Japan.

I wish you had been there with me.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. I've been gone for over a month now. Five more weeks and I'll be meeting you at the Orlando Airport! Love you!


	6. Week 6

Dear Tamaki,

There was an adventure at work today. There was a horrible thunderstorm. Candice (the customer service manager) understood about my fear of storms and let me out of cart duty. The building is so strong and there are no windows that I couldn't hear the thunder or see the lightning.

This worked beautifully, all I could hear was the rain pounding on the metal roof. That is, until the power went out. Apparently lightning hit nearby and short-circuited a power box. So we went down to generator power (can't risk melting the ice cream or spoiling the milk), but somehow a wire got crossed and the fire alarm went off.

No one seemed to think anything of it. We just kept ringing up and bagging people's groceries. (The computers that run the registers are also hooked up to the generator) All in all it was an exciting day, especially when the firemen showed up. You would've loved it.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. I need a house with walls as thick as Cublix, then the storms wouldn't bother me.


	7. Week 7

Dear Tamaki,

All of us had the day off today. By all of us I mean Rain, Sunshine, Uktu, and Xiang. Everyone decided to go to this water park called Big Kaunas, I was merely dragged along. I swear they are as bad as the Host Club.

The park was fun. I wish you had been there. It was exactly your thing. The place was full of normal people in swimsuits having a good time. Though I think some of them shouldn't have been in swimsuits. I got stuck behind one guy in line for a slide and he had bachne. It was disgusting and completely unsanitary; he should've had a shirt on.

It was a fun day and I liked the people I was with, but I wish it had been you and the rest of the Host Club instead.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. The food there was horrible. It was over-priced, over-cooked and tasted like cardboard. You would've loved it.


	8. Week 8

Dear Tamaki,

I got complained about this week. Some overweight tourist came through with two overflowing carts right before we closed. She put all her crushable stuff up front for some reason. When I got to her bags of chips I bagged them three to a bag, like I was taught. Well she came down towards me, after I had finished bagging all the chips, and told me to stop crushing her chips. She was looking away from me as I bagged them! She probably thought I was crushing them since they were making so much noise. Well guess what? They were bags of Sun Chips. Sun Chip bags are the noisiest ones out there! You touch one gently and it sets up a racket. So why in the world did she think I was crushing them?

I'm having fun, but people like her are really ruining my experience. Tim called me into his office to ask about the complaint and I explained what happened. He just smiled and said that some customers have no common sense.

Everything was fine after that but I'm glad I got to vent to you about it. I'll be glad when this is over in a couple of weeks. I didn't realize that being away from you for so long would grate on my nerves so much.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Can you call me tomorrow at 9pm Central Time? I need to hear your voice…


	9. Week 9

Dear Tamaki,

I was appreciated this week. Some lady that came through Katharine's register when I was bagging for her wrote an email to Cublix to tell them how nice and professional we had been. After nine weeks here it's nice to be appreciated. Katharine's even more excited; she's been here three years and has never known of a letter complimenting her before.

Granted, that may be because they only started telling people soon after I came here. Everyone's planning to through me a going away party since I finish before anyone else in our house. That will be next week. I'm not big on parties, but it will be nice to say goodbye to everyone, although I did make sure to put everyone as a friend on facebook.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. Soon, very soon, I shall be seeing you again.


	10. Week 10

Dear Tamaki,

I get to see you tomorrow night! I'm so glad. You're going to fly in an hour or two aren't you? Well, I hope you get this on your phone before you board and have to turn off your phone.

They threw a party for me last night. It was fun. All the new friends I've made at Cublix came over and we just relaxed and had a good time. I learned how to play this game called Munchkin. Mike brought it over. It was really fun and silly. I never won but it was fun to watch some people get super competitive about it. That was about it, I'll tell you the rest tomorrow if you really want me to.

Love,

Haruhi

P.S. See you tomorrow!


End file.
